5 Cause No. I dont know what legal options the majority has, but I do know that the Speaker of the House has the authority to call upon the Texas Rangers to round up legislative quorum-busters, which is why they always flee the state. Disclaimer | See here and here for some background; the story also references the lawsuit filed by Harris County that has been temporarily paused to allow the discussion that led to this agreement. Tatum, your day of reckoning has just started.. See here for the background, and here for a copy of the ruling. The article is paywalled, but I got to see a Google doc copy of it. Todays decision allows the threat of criminal prosecution to loom over officials trying to help voters. Houston, TX 77003. Liens, Real Those against the project often note it will result in the demolition of more than 1,000 residences, nearly 350 businesses and a handful of schools and churches. for Deed, Promissory One year ago, opponents of the states plan to rebuild Interstate 45 in Houston criticized the take it or leave it optionstate officials offered regarding amending plansfor the mega-project. If you throw out all of the Election Day provisional ballots, DaSean Jones still leads by 89 votes. See here for the background. Agreements, LLC The policy was prompted by a Commissioners Court resolution urging the board members to adopt rules regulating the minimum fee that a bondsman must collect to secure a defendants release on violent charges. Please give a few bucks if you can and help them all out. The decision prompted the three Democrats on Harris County Commissioners Court to go into an executive session to discuss with the county attorneys office whether they have legal options to compel the two missing commissioners to attend. I would quibble with the assertion that Abbott took swift action as you know, Ive been marveling at how long it took him to respond. Heres a Twitter thread from Chron reporter Emily Foxhall with more quotes. I thought the price fixing argument was weak and as such Im not surprised at this outcome. State highway officials held fast to their plans for rebuilding Interstate 45 in Houston on Thursday, offering a litany of benefits the project will bring and pressing federal officials to lift a 12-month-and-counting pause on development. LLC, Internet On Election Night, the Texas Organizing Project, Texas Civil Rights Project and ACLU of Texas obtained a court order from a judge requiring all Harris County polling locations to extend voting hours until 8 p.m. after the groups argued in a lawsuit that late openings at some polling locations prevented some residents from voting. Metro is probably as eager as anyone to get this going, as their MetroNext plans depend on various items in the I-45 rebuild. Paxtons opinion, which doesnt stem from any change to state law, theoretically permits anyone an aggrieved voter, activist or out-of-state entity to request access to ballots as soon as the day after they are counted. But I have always believed that one way or another this was going to happen, so any improvements or modifications to the original plan have to be considered with that in mind. Specifically, Rogers said FHWA is not prepared at this time to allow TxDOT to resume any right-of-way acquisition in Segment 3. TxDOT, he added, could acquire properties from owners who approach it on a case-by-case basis rather than relying on eminent domain.. The group, focused on economic development north of the city, is a vocal supporter of the widening project because of its potential to improve access to downtown and revitalize sagging areas along the I-45 freeway corridor. That means the ball is in the state governments court, he said, which will have to make a move if it wants to change the status quo before Monday.. 6 Cause No. Operating Agreements, Employment Don't read that if you're having a good day. Forms, Independent Im sure theyll say theyre just a bland nonprofit, but to a voter who does not have a law degree, who does not have a background in law enforcement, you are a lot more likely to believe that this is some kind of quasi-official visit, Slattery said. They are trying to make it as difficult as possible, and talking people out (of driving ballots themselves) by warning them there will be long lines, Siegel said. Jerry Garcia, Constable Precinct 2 I've been notified of misdemeanor charges through the mail (not certified) and served by process. To Access County Clerk's Forms: (click here Downloadable Clerk's Office Forms) For suggestions or comments regarding this site please email us at webcomments@hctx.net. Harris County gives 3 for one on non-violent offense but not DWI or BMV. This one will be heard in a courtroom. The USPS rede livery form states that it was both a letter and certified mail. Details big and small remain works in progress and a federal pause looms as the last big hurdle, for now, as officials move ahead after last months agreements. The Disability and Elder Law Practice Group represents the Harris County Guardianship Program, in which adults are under the supervision of the Harris County Probate Courts. If the state cut early voting to just one week, as Hall has proposed, it would affect up to 6.5 million Texans thats how many voted in the first two weeks in 2020. "Hello Freind, My name is John Odagu, County Attorney for your county. 2023-00936; Mark Montgomery v. Judge Kelley Andrews. Instead, the court did not issue an opinion and election night ballot countingproceeded uneventfullyat NRG Arena. In a statement, Menefee confirmed his office will file a lawsuit against Hegar. Alan Rosen had his eye on the Sheriffs office back when Ed Gonzalez was a nominee for head of ICE, but thats off the table now. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez last week halted enforcement of a provision of Senate Bill 1 that made it a crime for election officials to solicit mail-in ballots. In a statement Tuesday, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefees office said: The requests for these documents were handled the same as any other requests for documents related to ongoing litigation against the county. Our practice is focused on debt collection remedies. On the one hand, I have faith that local political leaders who have been vocal in their opposition to TxDOTs previous plans have done their best to get as good a deal as they can. Part of the new rule requires that bail bondsmen have to report the premium amount collected ahead of the defendants release. Free Preview Harris County Attorney Letter Description Attorney Vacation Letter Texas This is an official form from the Harris County, Texas District Clerk's Office, which complies with all applicable laws and statutes. Of those, Shah said, 66 were rejected because they did not meet statutory requirements and contained incomplete information.. It has a chilling effect, Rodriguez said while questioning a state attorney Friday morning. You know what she did? I have no interest in prioritizing those needs over anyone elses. For anyone who thinks that its hysterical to imagine Longoria or Morgan being prosecuted for these actions, Rob Icsezen and Dana DeBeauvoir would like to have a word with you. Will Archer is represented by Elizabeth Alvarez. Menu The motion for a preliminary injunction inLongoria v. Paxtonishere. Theres an unwritten contract between parents and their schools and its that when our children are under the care of their schools, they do everything they can to keep them safe, Hidalgo wrote in a letter to superintendents. 20 Cause No. That link takes you here, and while the in-person fundraiser mentioned there is now over, the Donate link remains. Life comes at you fast. The group also filed a lawsuit in 2018 obtaining a similar court order in Harris County. 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis. I think Harris County has the right response here. Rodriguez also rejected Paxtons claim that granting the injunction would interfere with the orderly operation of Texas elections. Technology, Power of 5(lost to Judge David Fleischer), Chris Daniel, former candidate for Harris County District Clerk (lost to Marilyn Burgess), Erin Lunceford, former candidate for the 189, Tami Pierce, former candidate for the180th District Court(lost to Judge DaSean Jones), Alexandra Mealer, former candidate for Harris County Judge (lost to Judge Lina Hidalgo), Mike May, former candidate for State Representative District 135 (lost to Representative Jon Rosenthal). Comptroller Hegar misapplied the law, bungled the math, and is acting outside of his legal . Those challenges do not amount to voter suppression, Stein said, but merely suggest that Harris County should operate fewer, better-resourced polling locations. Menefee said Harris County had received more than three dozen requests to inspect ballots since Paxton issued his opinion. Not that Im complaining. Harris County Commissioners Court on Thursday voted to sueTexas Comptroller GlennHegars office in response to hiscomments accusing the countyof defunding law enforcement. That letter must include the following four paragraphs: 1. You have separation of powers.. Conduct research and analysis of legal problems. Judge Craft is represented by Steve Kherker. of Attorney, Personal UPDATE: The HISD Board approved the mask mandate that Superintendent House requested. Public servants have moved on. They saw it as a chance to win long-sought relief for people who have suffered from batch plants. We have the knowledge and skills to get results. The agreements are a rare case of a major Texas highway project receiving major changes, prompted by community opposition, after officials had essentially greenlit its construction. Each affidavit alleges that numerous registered voters in Harris County do not reside at the addresses listed on their voter registration records, as required by state election law. Handling of the voted ballots themselves opens up the possibility of accidental or intentional damage or misplacement that could call into question the election after the fact.. All About Bail Bonds owner Sunya Claiborne, plaintiff in the lawsuit, contends that her business is at stake because the minimum charge requirement is classic price fixing and a per se antitrust violation without any grant of state authority to displace competition, according to court documents. Its a complicated story. Highway officials, however, have said since March that the federal review and lawsuit leave them no choice but to stop talking. Instead, the legislature and the Governor have made it a crime to do so.. Harris County Justice of the Peace Court Forms - Downloadable forms for small claims cases, eviction, and criminal matters heard by Justices of the Peace. Up until March, the board primarily approved and renewed bail bondsman licenses. Which makes this entire spectacle little more than a plea for attention and a waste of everyones time. Wyatt 1,950 2,110 0 2,258 There may be an opinion in the future that addresses that question.. There is a deadline of MARCH 8 to raise funds!! Theres apparently some talk of a compromise, which would need to happen soon, but Ill believe it when I see it. I point this out to say that barring something truly weird, Paxtons bad faith filing will not can not have any effect on any race. By the time this runs in the morning well know what the official canvass says, and from there well see if an election challenge will follow. After an evidentiary hearing, the district court granted the plaintiffs motion for a preliminary injunction, enjoining the defendants from enforcing and prosecuting under the provisions. Clerk Burgess is represented by Neal Manne. Letters have a maximum word . That would include increasing penalties for those who violate election laws even inadvertently, reducing early voting days and restricting mail-in balloting to only the military, the disabled and people who will be out of the county during the entirety of early voting. The Harris County GOP reacted angrily to this and sent a letter to Ken Paxton demanding he take action or else we have no confidence that the Attorney General will uphold any of our election laws. How much does a District Attorney make? Judge Jackson is represented by John Raley. People accused of violent crimes should not get any discounts while they await trial, Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who proposed the fee minimum to county commissioners, said in a statement. In a primary election, each polling location has one judge from each party overseeing their own partys voting process. The resulting ability to anticipate the governments case strategy gives us a critical edge over firms that lack this capability. Cagle 64,225 186,970 0 5,056 Recent bills proposed in the state legislature largely floundered. Such requests have been used by activists all over the country as a way to audit election results. Attorney, Terms of Usually, federal agents will handle investigative tasks, such as interviewing witnesses or executing search warrants, and then the United States Attorneys Office will rely on those investigative efforts of the federal agents to build a case for trial. Keith Ingram, the secretary of states director of elections, told lawmakers in the hearing he disagreed with that interpretation and believed Harris Countys plan violated the law. Dont ask me when that is likely to happen. Tuesday, as part of a public hearing on the states long-range plans, opponents opted for leave it, telling the Texas Department of Transportation to drop the 1-45 widening off its list. The county and Claibornes lawyers are expected later on Friday to debate whether a temporary restraining order and injunction should be granted. Isabel Longoria, the Harris County Elections Administrator, and Cathy Morgan, a Volunteer Deputy Registrar serving in Williams and Travis counties, sued the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, to enjoin enforcement of the civil liability provision, as applied to the anti-solicitation provision. We cant spend money to design and we cant spend money to do those things, Ryan said at the forum, which drew criticism because it was for paying guests only at an event sponsored by various engineering, construction and planning firms. EPA stepping in signaled a shift in that fight for residents who have little more than emotional appeals on their side, and what help they can get from frustrated government representatives. Former officer Gerald Goines led a raid on the home, which police believed to. Now you can just go somewhere else. Minutes, Corporate Adding huge swaths of concrete is the opposite of what Houston needs, Houstonian Joy Fairchild said during a public hearing for TxDOTsUnified Transportation Program. Commissioners Court convened the special meeting to decide on a response to Hegars claim. But the states highest civil court also ordered Harris County to determine whether those late-cast ballots would affect the outcome of any races and kept alive Attorney General Ken Paxtons challenge to counting them. Under Hegars calculations, Heaps annualized budget would have been about $48.9 million over 12 months nearly $2.3 million off from the $46.7 million figure calculated by the county. I dont think TxDOT will pull I-45 widening off their list, and if Im right then I still dont know what happens next. From what Ive gathered from talking to people, the multiple-dropoff-locations idea, which had been Diane Trautmans original plan, is probably the best way to go. Its good to be a Commissioner. Abbott is exceeding his authority under the state Disaster Act of 1975, Menefee argued, which the county attorney said allows the governor to suspend laws in only narrow circumstances. I was invited to this meeting because of the effort to create and carry out block walking events. Attorneys. Additionally, many letters from the U.S. Attorneys Office will include a blank Business Records Affidavit for the recipient to fill out and have notarized. Once again, Comptroller Hegar has abused his authority, the county attorney said. Texas law disqualifies the judges in a county from presiding over an election contest filed in that county. County Judge Lina Hidalgo had little to report after the session but said the county attorneys office is researching options. TxDOT has yet to adequately respond to community concerns about induced demand the phenomenon by which wider highways make traffic worse, the group Stop TxDOT I-45 said in a statement. Gov. On balance, with the improvements I think you have an excellent project that will move forward and move the greater good.. CIA plans to hold a fundraiser, hopefully on Feb 19. The proceedings are pending. The judge hearing the case is in San Antonio which complicates matters re time to get there and back for hearings. 7 Cause No. The judge said his order does not affect any voting procedures, change the vote-by-mail process or affect voting deadlines or eligibility. Simply put, the party would have a practical strategy on what to do and what not to do. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee says the county is not releasing the ballots, arguing the opinion Paxton issued in the name of election integrity last week runs afoul of the law. I really dont think thats too much to ask. She said Republican judges only learned the day before that election that they would have to hand ballots over at polling sites, rather than drive them downtown themselves. Nor did Paxtons office intervene this year when voting hours were also extended by one hour in Bell County because of early morning glitches with check-in systems. We have a ways to go before this is truly settled. As of today, the office has not received an opinion on how to proceed with these particular public information requests. Another 49 challenges came in after Aug. 10, the 90th day before the election. We expect TxDOT to work alongside us to achieve the same. One of his top staffers ran against Judge Hidalgo in the 2022 Dem primary, and I imagine there will be some kind of response to that. The information contained in this site was valid at the time of posting. Hidalgos office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Affidavits of surety to surrender principal often list the premium and are filed by bail agents as an attempt to cut ties with a defendants bond, usually after a new charge. Marilyn Burgess, District Clerk She intends to offer competitive pricing of less than 10% of the face amount of the bond to consumers who desire to purchase a bail bond for themselves, or their loved ones charged with a designated offense and qualify for reduced payment terms, the lawsuit continued. The criminal division prosecutes criminal cases. Under S.B. The root cause of that debate, however, remains unresolved, Hegar said in the statement, referring to the defunding spat from last fall. We have never agreed that these ballots can be part of the final election results, and this afternoon were going to ask that the Texas Supreme Court rule that these late-cast votes should be excluded as Texas law requires.. . Federal officials have lifted their pause on a small piece of the planned Interstate 45 mega-project that will remake downtown Houstons freeway system and has divided state transportation planners, community groups and local politicians. The petition also acknowledges the county has provided some of the requested documents. Harris County Republican Party Chair Cindy Siegel indicated there could be more election contests to come. Agreements, LLC The initial request for a temporary restraining order was denied on Friday, and there will be a hearing for a temporary injunction on May 6. Still the only voter ID anyone should need. Paxton and one of the district attorneys (Shawn Dick of Williamson County) appealed. Morales-Doyle said that Morgan began the case with a reasonable fear of prosecution and while the state has indicated a disinclination to prosecute she does not know the position of the Travis County district attorney, nor what future district attorneys would do. City of Houston and Harris County Statements on EPA Order for Union Pacific Contamination Cleanup, Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee Responds to Texas Comptroller, Harris County Attorney Announces Legal Action Against Landfill Expansion. Somebody has to be in the kitchen, or else were all on the menu, he said during a Dec. 8 panel discussion with federal highway officials and local opponents. There is no reason for them to bluff. In the letter to the attorney general's office, Bitter, the general counsel for the secretary of state's office, wrote that an election clerk may effectively have to break state law in order to comply with a request for ballots so soon after an election. Records, Annual (713) 275-7830. As the City's chief administrator and official representative, the Mayor is responsible for the general management of the City and for seeing that all laws and ordinances are enforced. Although the ballots were processed, Harris County now intends to include them in the final vote canvass, Christopher Hilton, chief of the Attorney Generals office general litigation division said Monday. The Harris County Attorney's Office fights for the interests of Harris County through the civil justice system to preserve access to clean air and water; ensure safe, healthy neighborhoods; protect consumers against fraud, exploitation, and other bad acts; and defend voting rights. As a bail agent for the corporate surety Allegheny Casualty Co., she also worries that the new rule will put her at odds with the insurance company which she fears could violate customer privacy. Hiring a lawyer after receiving a letter is an excellent option. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee Tuesday denied Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegars announcement that county officials are attempting to resolve the defunding claims Hegar made earlier this month. She offered examples of voters she no longer felt she could help navigate the vote-by-mail process. Stan Stanart is represented by Elizabeth Alvarez. An investigator with the AGs Election Integrity Unit spoke to Icsezen in December of 2020, and apparently concluded that this was basically a misunderstanding of an unclear law, and did not warrant further action. It seems like the intent was to keep I-45 on the TxDOT project list for at least a little longer, to see if an agreement among all the parties can be reached.